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Top Books First Read in 2017

We're three months in, so what have you been reading so far this year. For me, it's been filling in the blind spots with Lahiri's work. I expect that later this year I'll visit one of her novels. Also, Kang's novel on the Gwangju Uprising was incredibly powerful--great prose and style after I found The Vegetarian merely good.

Each year at this time I find myself turning to the Tournament of Books, which is its own March Madness styled bracket where a set of novels from the past year compete against one another. Several books make it from there onto my "to-read" pile pretty much immediately...

1. All the Wrong Questions#3: Shouldn't You Be in School? (Lemony Snicket)
2. AtWQ#4: Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (Lemony Snicket)
3. AtWQ#2: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket)
4. Career of Evil (Robert Galbraith)
5. AtWQ#1: Who Could That Be at This Hour? (Lemony Snicket)
6. AtWQ#2.5: File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents (Lemony Snicket)
7. The Silkworm (Robert Galbraith)
8. The Girl in the Spider's Web (David Lagercrantz)

I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?

1. Watership Down (Richard Adams)2. It (Stephen King)
3. All the Wrong Questions#3: Shouldn't You Be in School? (Lemony Snicket)4. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (Otto Friedrich)
5. AtWQ#4: Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (Lemony Snicket)
6. AtWQ#2: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket)
7. Career of Evil (Robert Galbraith)
8. AtWQ#1: Who Could That Be at This Hour? (Lemony Snicket)
9. AtWQ#2.5: File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents (Lemony Snicket)
10. The Silkworm (Robert Galbraith)

Jung's final work was sorta tedious when it tried to tie any dream to Jung's preconceived notions of what the symbols meant. As much as he wants to suggest the elasticity of symbols, the entire process stank of confirmation bias to me. But it was a fascinating book anyway, and its exploration of mythic symbols was useful given my familiarity with Joseph Campbell remixing ideas from Jung.

And The Bacchae was phenomenal. Expected to "appreciate" it for literary merit, but the drama kicked in hard. Beyond its symbology and messaging, it's just good clean story.

1. Watership Down (Richard Adams)2. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
3. It (Stephen King)
4. All the Wrong Questions#3: Shouldn't You Be in School? (Lemony Snicket)
5. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (Otto Friedrich)
6. AtWQ#4: Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (Lemony Snicket)
7. AtWQ#2: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket)
8. Career of Evil (Robert Galbraith)
9. AtWQ#1: Who Could That Be at This Hour? (Lemony Snicket)
10. AtWQ#2.5: File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents (Lemony Snicket)

Book V is the best of the series, my favorite single King book. Love book VII as well. Book VI has some amazing moments. I'd love to read an entire trilogy on the Tet Corporation protecting the Rose from Sombra. King could do some really cool things with corporate horror and supernatural espionage.

1. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
2. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
3. It (Stephen King)4. The Cat's Table (Michael Ondaatje)
5. All the Wrong Questions#3: Shouldn't You Be in School? (Lemony Snicket)
6. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (Otto Friedrich)
7. AtWQ#4: Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (Lemony Snicket)
8. AtWQ#2: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket)9. The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas)
10. Career of Evil (Robert Galbraith)

1. Watership Down (Richard Adams)2. Call Me By Your Name (André Aciman)
3. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
4. It (Stephen King)
5. The Cat's Table (Michael Ondaatje)
6. All the Wrong Questions#3: Shouldn't You Be in School? (Lemony Snicket)7. The Disaster Artist (Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell)
8. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (Otto Friedrich)
9. AtWQ#4: Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (Lemony Snicket)
10. AtWQ#2: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket)